A Brief Polil—and Personal—History of Gay Bathho ‹ Lerary Hub

Contents:

• A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO. 1984
• THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO, SURROUNDG CONTROVERSY AND FAMO PATRONS, INCLUDG JT FASHANU, HARVEY MILK AND MICHEL FOUULT
• A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.
• BEFORE IT BURNED DOWN, THIS BATHHOE SERVED AS A HAVEN FOR NEW YORK CY’S GAY COMMUNY
• HISTORY LSON: WHY SNAS REMA IMPORTANT TO GAY CULTURE
• EXPLORG THE REVIVAL OF GAY BATHHO NEW YORK CY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNY
• GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.

A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

The risks of police raids terred some men om steppg to a gay bathhoe, but ultimately the need for timate pannship outweighed the danger posed by police. Dpe survivg 100 years of police harassment, though, the gay bathho of New York Cy uldn’t survive the homophobia of Mayor Ed Koch, who shut most of them down durg the HIV epimic.

In 1984, San Francis effectively shut down gay bathho a sperate attempt to curb HIV transmissn, assumg that the venu create what is prently referred to as “super sprear events.

THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO. 1984

Followg this troductn, I will tail the history of bathho wh San Francis and the broar gay muny, then exame the arguments that were ially ma favor of the closur.

The first Amerin gay bathho parable to what we see today opened the 1950s and ‘60s and exclively centered the social and erotic needs of gay men.

THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO, SURROUNDG CONTROVERSY AND FAMO PATRONS, INCLUDG JT FASHANU, HARVEY MILK AND MICHEL FOUULT

As Bebé argu, bathho preced the gay rights movement by providg men a social settg to assemble that rporated tablished health and safety polici—what some today would label a “safe space” to be gay. Once the Consentg Adult Sex Bill crimalized sodomy California 1976, the baths creasgly functned as cultural centers “that uld both shape and rpond to the rapid social, sexual, and polil chang that were takg place” by providg gay men an opportuny to specifilly teract wh other gay men. However, on March 27, at a meetg of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Larry Ltlejohn, founr of the homophile anizatn Society for Individual Rights, troduced a municipal ballot iative that aimed to close down the baths as a rponse to the ragg AIDS epimic.

The followg morng, a lol gay newspaper published an article tled “Pri Founr Will Circulate Stop Sex Petn for Ballot, ” spreadg panic and forcg cy officials and muny members to formulate a public rponse to the proposed closur.

Many the muny risted the iative and particularly sgled out Ltlejohn as “Ltle Bra, ” “Judas Ltle John, ” and “the hemorrhoid on the asshole of the gay muny”–wh the fal ment g om the owner of another proment San Francis bathhoe. ” The prottors highlighted a legimate fear of gay crimalizatn and ernment tsn to their private nduct, pecially given the years of police mistreatment many had endured. [xiv] Meanwhile, spe this public promise om Silverman, Mayor Feste surreptly orred San Francis police officers to beg surveillg bathho to report on the sexual activy of gay men.

A BRIEF POLIL—AND PERSONAL—HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

Unfortunately, and as Feste’s spy tactic mak clear, many s this simply meant articulatg fear at the lol level by targetg spac associated wh gay sexualy.

THE HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

”[xvii] Shortly thereafter, Silverman orred the closure of the baths and several other tablishments where gay men partook sex and reviewed them by name, statg, “the fourteen tablishments are not fosterg gay liberatn. Naively believed where we engaged sex was a risk associated wh AIDS, ” then specified that “there is no scientific evince provg bathho, or sex clubs, are more rponsible than hotel rooms or bedrooms for gays ntractg AIDS.

They acknowledged that the baths have provid a safer and private place for all gay men to ngregate whout fear of vlence or heteronormative social nsequenc and that, particular, baths provi accs to queer spac to young men between the ag of 18 and 20 who are prohibed om enterg bars and clubs. This paper was first published December 1984 as an article Comg Up!, a lbian and gay muny newspaper published monthly San Francis (California).

An extraordary, glimpse to the pre-AIDS gay sexual culture, "The Fairoaks Baths" is an exhib of Polaroids taken by Frank Melleno durg the sprg and summer of 1978 at the Fairoaks Hotel, a San Francis bathhoe.

A S-OLD BAN ON GAY BATHHO WAS ABOUT TO BE LIFTED. THEN, A PANMIC.

There is no other llectn of photographs that so clearly visualiz this perd bathhoe imag and more will be on display at the Llie-Lohman Prce Street Project Space (tails below) and also clud are imag om the Fairoaks Pri Para float om that same Fairoaks Baths:Photographs by Frank MellenoPolaroids om a San Francis bathhoe 1978Llie-Lohman Mm of Gay and Lbian Art (Prce Street Project Space)127-B Prce StreetNew York, NY 10012July 12-13, Openg receptn July 11, 6-8 p. He'd been a member of the '70s gay mune that went on to purchase and nvert a fad but wonrfully tact Victorian apartment buildg on the edge of a black ghetto to a gay bathhoe. It lerally stood alone, at the tersectn of Oak and Steer streets, perched on a hill overlookg the lower Hay Valley district; an urban patch not yet gentrified by the cy's swellg ti of gay Boomers and some distance om the neighborhoods they typilly Fairoaks' existence was short-lived -- 1977 to 1979 -- but fondly relled by s patrons for a number of thgs.

BEFORE IT BURNED DOWN, THIS BATHHOE SERVED AS A HAVEN FOR NEW YORK CY’S GAY COMMUNY

Members of the groups were enuraged by the offer of a ee locker to spend the eveng and this helped foster a more faiar and timate atmosphere than was mon other gay bathho of the era. Many of those men, like a great number of Fairoaks patrons, are no longer alive -- taken by the plague of AIDS that would cimate the cy's gay populatn jt another few a strg of black pearls, San Francis's bathho adorned the cy wh a touch of louche glamour before they were officially closed October 1984. Freeman regnized the historil importance, rtored the imag and created the Fairoaks than a pictorial rerd of a bygone scene -- or even of passg strangers wh sticky feet -- the photographs open a door to a secret gay world of sexual enunter and sweet nocence the lik of which will never be seen aga.

HISTORY LSON: WHY SNAS REMA IMPORTANT TO GAY CULTURE

At the Fairoaks he worked as a DJ, and receptnist, and was a proud member of the Fairoaks "fay crew" om s ArmsTwo guys towels talkg near the snack bar the mon area of the Pri #1The Fairoaks float at the 1978 Gay Pri Para San Francis was a flatbed tck rated wh furnure om the Fairoaks lounge. The hood ornament is wearg a Fairoaks T-shirt and straddlg a prott sign about the Briggs iative, which would have banned gay and "gay-sympathetic" teachers om classrooms California, and did not Pri #8Taken om the ont of the Fairoaks float for the 1978 Gay Pri Para, lookg ahead at the para and by-stanrs.

And though I was never an aficnado of the Bathhoe scene, the gay history buff me cid to do some rearch and even I was a b surprised by the strong historil and social signifince bathho have had on the gay muny Ameri.

Bathho Amerin ci first beme popular wh the general public the late 19th and early 20th centuri due to a lack of tenement plumbg and bathg facili, but would rema popular wh gay men long after bathtubs beme standard apartment featur. The Everard NYC (which long ago received the nickname – The Everhard) was nverted om a church to a bathhoe 1888 and was known to have a gay clientele even before the roarg 1920’s. In addn to providg spac for gay men to meet and have sex, the baths also provid a type of muny space and meetg place for gay artists and tellectuals durg a time that gay sex was still punishable by law.

EXPLORG THE REVIVAL OF GAY BATHHO NEW YORK CY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNY

Bathho would ntue to be one of the most popular plac for gay men to ngregate well after the morn gay rights movement began the late 1960’s wh the Stonewall rts. And though gay bathho saw a cle populary begng the 1980’s wh the advent of the AIDS epimic, many gay bathho ntue to fill the same functn they always have: a safe place to be gay and have gay sex. The History of Gay Bathho, Surroundg Controversy and Famo Patrons, Includg Jt Fashanu, Harvey Milk and Michel FouultPlease note that the ntent of this book primarily nsists of articl available om Wikipedia or other ee sourc onle.

I met a handsome Black man wh dreadlocks a gay bar lled The Fireplace on the edge of Dupont Circle, and after a few rounds of drks, we left to go have sex only to disver that neher of uld take the actn back to where we lived. The vibe uld be ls aggrsive there than at gay dance clubs like Badlands or Chaos, and the entry fee was ually cheaper than a night of drks at gay bars such as Mr. But, lookg back over the past half century, sex has been the fixatn of vol nservativ, who never knew the genue value of gay bathho, sex clubs, or porn theaters.

So, by the late 1970s, you uld roll your ey at the opponents of gay sexual liberatn as you walked to the Roman Holiday Spa Los Angel; or the Nob Hill Theater San Francis; or Man’s Country Chigo; or the Olympic Baths Washgton, D.

GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.

Here’s how the distorted story go: gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters had no reemg social value and were purely an outgrowth of the immoral, dg-fueled, hedonistic liftyle of queer men, and closg the lewd dwellgs durg the AIDS crisis the 1980s was the pnt cisn. San Francis’s Nob Hill Theater opened s doors for Gay Rights activists to hold strategy meetgs durg the theater’s off hours on Sunday morngs.

At first, most polil lears seemed que willg to stand back and silently watch the unchecked spread of a adly vis layg waste primarily to the homosexual populatn. Then when spurred to actn, a host of elected officials ed the public health crisis as a pretense to enact measur that had long been on their polil wish list—for stance, closg the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters, which was amed as a public health measure. I’ve raised this topic wh dozens of queer people across generatns, and a staggerg number nsir a matter of mon knowledge that shuttg down the gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters was a necsary and effective policy unr the circumstanc.

As public health workers argued at the time 1980s, keepg the gay bathhoe, sex clubs, and porn theaters open would provi them wh plac to te people about HIV and AIDS, to tt people for HIV and AIDS, and to offer people greater accs to medil treatment for HIV and AIDS. My purpose unrsrg the value of gay bathho, sex clubs, and porn theaters and retracg the polil motivatns for closg so many of them down durg the AIDS crisis this say and my novel, My Government Means to Kill Me, isn’t simply an exercise explorg history. More than three s ago, the HIV/AIDS panmic closed gay bathho San Francis after the cy and unty clared them a “public nuisance” over alleged unsafe sex practic.